


jar of stars

by knightofameris



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, M/M, Reader-Insert, idk what else to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24064900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightofameris/pseuds/knightofameris
Summary: (Y/n) has a thing for paper stars. They also have a thing for Peter Parker but then an itsy bitsy spider comes round and practically plays matchmaker.
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker & Reader, Michelle Jones & Reader, Ned Leeds & Reader, Peter Parker/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	1. p. i

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanna throw this out there that I actually wrote this in 2018 (2019? idek anymore time is nonexistent). i don't think my writing is that great here as compared to my recent works, that some I haven't even posted, but yeah.

❝ _if the stars fell out of the sky one day  
they’ll only make more  
hoping that they’ll appear once again_ ❞

* * *

Your fingers danced around each other as the strip of paper you held started to fold into the shape of a pentagon. Your ears drowned out the voice of your physics teacher as you focused on puffing the pentagon into a star. It was one of the simpler origamis and barely required work. Though your nails would occasionally hurt from puffing it, or the sides of your fingers would start to get a bit dry but nothing that lotion couldn’t fix. **  
**

You dropped the finished star into a box that practically had thousands (that’s an exaggeration but it’s a lot) of other stars; shades of blue, purple, red, green, and patterned ones. There were an array of stars held in that seemingly small box that’d you’d only have to sort by color and shade into the countless jars you had at home.

You glanced up at the board seeing new notes to be taken down and you picked up a pencil to quickly jot it down. Little did you know, a few seats behind you Peter Parker was watching you as your fingers carefully reached for another strip of paper and began to nimbly move to create another star. He was wiggling his pencil back and forth between his fingers, a habit created out of boredom, wondering why did you pick up this time of the school year to make stars.

But then you were jolted out of your focus when your teacher promptly called you by your last name. All eyes were on you.

“You want to pass the AP exam, right?” Mrs. Warren asked you, clasping her hands together.

You smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then either you figure out a way to focus while making those stars of yours-” cue Flash snickering (and Peter glaring at Flash) “-or you put them away and focus on my lecture.”

With an apology, you quickly shoved the stars and strips of paper into a box and then your backpack. Your eyes rested on the teacher in front of you for the rest of the class period.

* * *

You sat out on the stairs fire escape. It was one of the chillier nights but you had your Midtown sweatshirt on with one of your pajama bottoms. The evening sky had hues of yellow that turned into orange into pink and then purple which all began to morph into the dark night sky. Of course, the New York skyline that decorated the sky made it seem like it was out of the movies. And with how the wispy clouds were sprinkled here and there, it was a sight to behold. But even so, it won’t be soon until the night sky would appear, vacant of stars.

Peter sat perched on one of the buildings of Queens, his legs swinging about as he people-watched. It was one of the quieter nights. Not much crime was being done, thankfully, and he finished his homework so he was just out relaxing a bit. He enjoyed watching the sunset alongside the people below him, even if it was a way to push down the stress of AP exams.

It didn’t take him long when he noticed a certain somebody sitting in their fire escape. He always saw you there and always wanted to say something as Spider-Man but never had the courage.

“You should talk to her,” Karen suggested in his mask. His eyes widened.

“What?” He stammered. “No! No way, I can’t do that to my friend. My voice is pretty distinct, I’d-I’d have to cover it up if I wanted to or..” He began to ramble with all the reasons why he couldn’t talk to you.

“I can disguise your voice, Peter,” Karen cut him off. “You should know that, are you sure you don’t need to go through go through the refresh-”

“No! No I’m good. But,” Peter trailed off, looking at you from the distance. He was still able to see that you were putting stars in a jar. He never knew what they were for. “Yeah, can you disguise my voice?” And in an instant he began to swing over towards you. He was surprised that you didn’t see him but then again, you were always so focused on your stars. So when he landed above you, quietly of course, and greeted you he didn’t expect you to be calm.

“Holy shit!” Your hands fumbled around with the star you held but you dropped it, only for it to fall down into the streets. Your eyes widened at the sight in front of you, adrenaline slightly pumping through your veins in a fight-or-flight sense.

“Oh,” Peter chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, “sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you.” His voice was slightly altered by a sound in his mask. Probably to disguise his voice.

“It’s fine,” you breathed out, looking down at the fallen star in the streets. “I just didn’t expect the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to come out of nowhere.” You laughed a bit before reaching into one of the boxes you had, grabbing a handful of dark purple stars. The panic you felt seconds earlier had quickly dissipated.

“Well, I saw you out here,” Peter sat down next to you and grunted a bit as he adjusted, “and I wanted to, you know, say hi.” You nodded your head.

“Yeah but, don’t you have-uh-I don’t know, hero business?” You poured the stars into a mason jar that was already filled with the colors of the evening sky.

“Eh, it’s a quiet night. Plus I’ll be notified if something goes down,” Peter replied. You nodded in response.

“And your voice?” You asked, looking into the eyes of his mask. Which only caused Peter to slightly blushed as the light from the sunset reflected in your (e/c) eyes. Thank God for his mask.

Peter tilted his head in confusion.

“I mean, it’s obviously slightly… different.”

“Oh!” Peter exclaimed. “Well, just in case I see you in the street as my civilian-self. You know, secret identity and all.”

“That’s pretty cool, smart actually.” You nodded your head with a slight smile, impressed at him. He then asked for your name and you gave it to him with a grin. The two of you guys began to talk for awhile, even after the sun set and the night sky had few scattered stars. Exchanging stories, laughs, anything you guys could think of. Of course, Peter was careful about what he told you to not give away his identity.

“You know, you remind me of my friend,” You mentioned after you finished laughing at one of his stories.

Peter quirked his eyebrow, and hoped to God that he didn’t give his identity away. “Oh? How?”

“I mean,” you held up a finger, starting to count, “you both like Star-Wars, you’re both extremely awkward at times, and have a thing for Tony Stark.” Peter’s heart began to beat faster. “I think you’d get along with them well; Ned and Peter.” You continued folding a few more stars as you talked.

“That’d be cool, you should introduce me to them,” Peter said out of slight relief. You hadn’t brought up anything that hinted you knew. But the frown that was etched on your face caused him to be slightly concerned.

“Yeah, well I wish,” You said, downstrucken. “Peter’s always off doing something for his Stark internship, I barely see him as much anymore. Just at school and our very occasional hang outs with Ned and MJ.” To see your downcasted face, it broke Peter’s heart. But then you laughed. “Though, Ned would freak out if he met you, so I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Huh, maybe not then,” Peter laughed. The two of you sat in silence for a while, just watching the cars in the distance. Well, you were focused on filling up the mason jar in front of you.

You were surprised at how well you were holding a conversation with _the_ Spider-Man. But it seemed as if he was a teenager who was just as awkward as you. Plus, everything just seemed so natural between the two of you. 

Peter watched you grab a bottle and spray it in the jar. Whiffs of lavender invaded his senses but it soon went away as you closed the jar. That probably explained why you constantly had the scent of lavender following you around.

“So what’s up with the stars?” Peter inquired, something he wondered but never asked as Peter. He was in awe at how the jar you held had the same exact colors of the sky a few hours earlier when they first started talking, but more so because of how you’re able to make so many.

“Oh, uh,” You looked down sheepishly. “It’s kinda silly.”

“Nah!” Peter exclaimed. You looked up at him in curiosity. “I’m sure it’s not, I mean have you seen my first costume? Man, kinda cringey now that I think about it.”

You laughed out, “Mood, big mood.” Peter laughed at your response as well. He couldn’t help but adore your smile as well. And the way that your eyes crinkled in the corners? Not that he’d ever tell you.

“Well,” you began to explain, reminiscing about your childhood. “It started out when I was younger.”

* * *

_Your twinkling eyes looked up into the night sky through your window. The new city you moved into was exciting. You were too young to be in school, so it didn’t upset you to move. It just made you excited for new adventures._

_But the night sky here was different than your hometown. There were barely any stars, there were no constellations. Your small mouth frowned and as your mother tucked you into bed, she asked you what was wrong. You shuffled your arm out and pointed out the window._

_“Where are the stars?” You asked. Your mother took a moment to think as she tried to admire the empty night sky. You expected her to respond but instead she got up from your bed and went to your desk, which was messy with arts and crafts. Your mom picked up a pair of scissors and a piece of (f/c) paper, knowing it was your favorite color. You watched her with wonder and when she came back with a single thin strip of paper, your face was furrowed with confusion. Her fingers, however, held the strip of paper in place in front of you._

_“Do you want to hear a story?” Your mother asked. “About the stars?” With a nod she continued. “On the Island of Japan, there was this little girl who adored the stars in the night sky. Each night she would set off to watch the stars but then there was a night when they started to fall out of the sky. And each night they continued to fall until there were none left in the sky. So the young girl had an idea that if she created enough stars-” her fingers began to nimbly move as she created a paper star “-and put them in a jar, she could hold the fallen stars inside of it. But she couldn’t make enough so she got her friends to help her and soon enough the stars appeared in the night sky once more.” She held out her hand and in the palm of it was a paper star. You couldn’t even comprehend how she made a star but you were beaming and looked up at her._

_“I don’t need my friends’ help!” You exclaimed. “I’ll make all the stars by myself! Can I try mom?” She only laughed as she rose up from the bed once more. Your mom grabbed a clear jar off your desk that was filled with pencils and put it in another. Dropping the star in the now-empty jar and setting it next to your bed on the nightstand, she kissed your forehead._

_“Of course sweetie, but in the morning, that way you can see a few more stars tomorrow night.” You smiled happily, staring at the single star in the jar. If all the stars fell out of the sky one day, you’d only make more, hoping that they’ll appear once again._

* * *

You smiled fondly at the memory as you gripped the jar tighter. Peter noticed that it was not the same smile that made the corner of your eyes crinkle. Rather, the corner of your eyes began to gather with tears and you quickly swept them away as you reminisce the times you could no longer have with your mother. Peter wanted to comfort you, hold you tight to tell you he was there for you, but he wasn’t Peter. He was Spider-man.

“Yeah so,” you broke the silence, thankful Spider-Man didn’t say anything as you recollected yourself, “when I was younger I thought I could make enough stars for them to appear in the sky. Course, I was disappointed early on. But since then, I’ve just made a bunch of stars for a while. It helps me relax in times of stress, and with AP season beginning soon, this helps. Otherwise, I just make them to give to friends and family or just ‘cause.”

Peter parted his mouth about to respond but then Karen told him of a robbery happening a few blocks down. The sounds of sirens filled the two teenager’s ears, causing both to look in the direction they were coming from.

“Ah, that’s my cue,” Peter said. You could’ve sworn that his voice was laced with disappointment, but it was probably in your imagination. After all, why would Spider-Man want to talk to you?

The masked hero started to stand up from where he was sitting. “Those stars of yours are pretty cool. And that story of yours is cute too. I hope we can still talk sometime in the future, maybe?” You were taken aback by his words.

“You still want to talk to me?” You sputtered.

“Well, yeah,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’d be really cool to get to know you.” You knew he was smiling under the mask, or at least you hope he was (Peter was grinning). You were smiling with him as well.

“Then sure, yeah,” you breathed out in awe. You glanced at the police cars that drove past the intersection in front of you. “You should probably go.”

“Oh, yeah, I should.” He started walking towards the edge of the fire escape.

“Hey Spidey?” You called out. Peter turned his head to face you.

“Yeah?”

“Be safe.”

“Thanks,” He replied with a smile. It wasn’t often that Peter was told to be safe (except from Tony, May, and Ned but that was as Peter). It made his heart burst to know that you were always so caring.

He jumped off the escape and went off swinging. You watched him disappear as he swung around a corner in the same direction as the police cars. Getting up from your spot, you grabbed the boxes of stars and the finished star jar in your arms. Then you climbed in through the window and set everything down on your desk before grabbing a specific jar off your personal set. The jar held the black Spider-Man symbol in the middle with a red circle and then specks of red in a sea of blue for the rest of the jar.

You let out a heavy sigh and then stared the spot you were sitting at moments earlier. 

Did Spider-Man really just talk to you?


	2. p. ii

❝ _do you believe me now?_

_yeah. yeah, i do._ ❞

* * *

The sunset jar that you made the previous day was in your hands as you walked through the corridors of Midtown. The hallways were teeming with students holding AP Barron’s study books or Princeton Review. The stress of AP exams were real. Although, for the group of seniors you walked past couldn’t care less. Senioritis was spreading among them like the plague. Some smiled at you as you recognized a few familiar faces from band. God, you couldn’t wait for senior year but you were thankful that you only had one AP exam as a sophomore.

MJ, Ned, and Peter stood in front of your locker. Sharing first period, and always being the last one to school, meant meeting at your locker. Not that you minded, you were glad that you could be greeted with smiles each morning.

“About damn time,” MJ smiled at you. You grinned and shook your head, chuckling.

“Yeah well,” you began, unlocking your locker to grab a few textbooks, and dropping off other ones, “had to make sure this jar would be fine for you.” MJ quirked a brow and reached towards the jar.

“Another one?” MJ asked, examining the jar and admiring the stars. The two friends were totally unaware of Peter’s watchful eyes, who eyed the same jar he saw you make the previous evening.

“Yeah! I know how stressed you are so I thought that’d help a bit, smells like lavender.” You smirked when MJ gave you a one-sided hug. Unbeknownst to the two, once again, Peter’s brows were furrowed. Though Ned saw the pained expression on his face and nudged his best friend.

“Dude relax, they’re probably just saving the best jar for you,” Ned whispered to Peter. But he could only glare at his Filipino friend.

“Dude!” Ned only shrugged in response.

Every single one of your friends had been given a jar before. Whether it was as a birthday gift, Christmas gift, or just because, Peter had never gotten one. And he was too scared to ask, but it probably explained his fear of asking you out. Maybe you just secretly hated him.

Though, Ned was right. You had a few jars made for Peter, and a lot of them, if you opened them up, had words of a confession. But you didn’t think the jars did justice for a confession so you kept them to yourself along with your other jars of superhero schemes.

“Are you guys evening listening?” MJ punched the two in the shoulder. Peter looked up at his friend, then at you.

“Wha-? Oh, uh yeah!” Peter stammered out. You could only roll your eyes and laugh.

“You sure Parker? What were we talking about?” You crossed your arms across your chest. Peter let out incoherent noises as his mouth opened and closed, trying to form a coherent answer. Ned could only shake his head at his friend tripping over his words.

“Yeah, I got nothing, sorry (Y/n),” Peter finally let out. You laughed again and shook your head, playfully.

“Chill, you’re good. I was just saying that Spider-Man came by and talked to me yesterday.” Peter grinned and ignored Ned nudging him.

“Oh, really? How’d that go?” Your face brightened as your (e/c) glazed over with excitement and fascination from the previous evening. Peter couldn’t help the way his lips pulled upwards as he watched you go on about meeting the masked-hero, admiring your features etched upon your visage. Of course, you didn’t know that the red and blue vigilante was him, but it gave Peter a sort of confidence boost. This didn’t go unnoticed by Ned, who just teased him mercilessly in chemistry later on.

“So how was your day?” Peter asked, swinging his legs as he sat on the rail of the fire exit. You sat there looking up at him, for once not working on your stars, AP exams have been long over so there was no more stress. Plus, most of your classes you didn’t have to worry about finals in a few days. None of your grades were borderline (anymore).

You chuckled, “It was - uh - good. Summer’s just around the corner so I’ll be out and about with friends soon. You?” Peter smiled in his mask, looking down then back up at you.

“It was good, you know saving the little guys here and there while you’re at school.”

With a scoff, you said, “You’re such a liar, I’m so sure you’re a high schooler. Like me.” You shifted to stand up, leaning against the railing next to the blue-and-red vigilante.

“What? No way, how would I even balance school with this?” Peter denied. But he knew you were smart, smarter than him at times.

“Well, for one thing, you mentioned a classmate a few weeks ago so I put two and two annndd,” you trailed off, knowing you won your lips tugged into a smirk and one of your brows quirked upwards.

“Ah, fine, you got me,” Peter laughed, shaking his head at you. It was nice to hang out with you for once. Just you. Peter hasn’t had the chance lately, with Spider-Man taking up his time and AP exams, to talk to you. It was all the moments he’s had with you these past few weeks as Spider-Man that let him relax. For some reason, talking to you as Spider-Man was different. And you’d be lying if you didn’t say the same. Maybe it’s because of the fact that he’s the hero of Queens, or that he’s a stranger to you that you had no fear of judgement. Or maybe it’s just the fact that he started to feel like home, more so than Peter has been lately.

Peter jumped up from his spot on the railing and balanced his two feet on there when he held his hand out to you. You eyed his hand warily then looked up at the hero.

“Take my hand, you can trust me,” he said. You held your hand up to his hesitantly but then pulled back.

“Maybe - Maybe not today,” you chuckled nervously, running your hand through your hair. He jumped down next to you and grabbed both of your hands, you couldn’t tell but he was staring straight into yours. For a second you were terrified he was just going to whisk you off but when he squeezed your hands reassuringly, you knew he wouldn’t.

“Ye-yeah that’s fine, another time.” He set your hands down. “So, no stars today?” He leaned against the railing.

You glanced through the window of your room at your jar of stars collection then back at him, “Nope.” You popped the ‘p.’ “Not really stressed, plus I have so much right now, I don’t know what to do with them.” You started to walk towards your window and Peter tilted his head as he watched you.

“Want to see them?” You asked, kinda wary of letting him into your room. By this point, you were already halfway into your room.

“If you’re fine with it,” he replied.

“Cool, uh,” you looked at the shelf full of the superhero themed stars, “gimmie a quick moment.” You bolted into your room and grabbed all those jars and hid them under your bed. The clinking of the jars hitting each other could be heard outside, but Peter didn’t pay any attention to it. You were about to head back out to let him in when the jars for Peter caught your eye. Should you hide those too? You shook your head and instead poked your head outside the window, smiling at the masked vigilante.

“You can come in,” you said, popping back into your room and plopping down onto your bed. Peter climbed into your room and then closed the window. He felt kinda odd, whenever he had gone over to your apartment as Peter, you never let him in your room. But here he was, standing in it.

He took in the surroundings, seeing your backpack by your desk and your laptop sitting on top of the desk. Pencils and papers strewn about, even the AP Physics 1 Princeton review book was lying on the floor with the many post-it notes sticking out of it. But what caught Peter’s attention were what sat on the bookshelf. But instead of books, it was jars.

You watched Spider-Man looking around in your room, murmuring how cool it was with the posters you had up. But when he started walking up to your shelf of jars, you tensed up. Especially when he grabbed one that was meant for Peter.

“Why do you have so many of the same color scheme?” Peter held up the red-ombre jar towards you. You felt heat rush up to your cheeks, but you didn’t know why. Why were you so embarrassed?

You didn’t answer right away. You were at a loss for words so Peter looked over at you as you sat in bed, noticing your little habits you always did when you were embarrassed. He was about to tell you you didn’t have to tell him, but before he could your mouth opened up.

“They’re confession jars,” you stammered out, fiddling with your fingers and looking everywhere but at him. “For the guy I like. I just never gave it to him.”

The soft clink caused you to look up at Spider-Man’s direction, seeing him set the jar down as gently as possible. When he moved his head to look back at you, you moved your gaze elsewhere.

“Well, why not?” Peter asked, curious about who you liked. Could it be him?

You shrugged in response, “I-I don’t know. Fear, for one thing. The fact that Peter’s been- oh fuck.” You buried your face into your hands as you realized you blurted out his name. Peter’s body tensed up, each of his muscles not moving. His eyes landed on your figure, trying to comprehend if you said what he thought you did.

_“Peter? (Y/n) said your name. I think you should kiss them,”_ Karen confirmed. He laughed dryly at Karen’s comment. Only to realize that you didn’t know he was laughing at Karen. He watched as your body slightly flinched then tensed at his response.

“Nonononono,” Peter changed out, rushing towards you to reassure you. “I didn’t mean it towards you I meant it towards Karen! She lives in my mask. My AI. In my mask.” Peter pointed towards his head, trying to explain himself so that he didn’t ruin his friendship with you. But you still didn’t respond as you hid your face in your hands.

“Hey, it’s fine, (Y/n). And I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better, I don’t even go to your school so….”

“For some reason, I don’t believe you,” you said, looking up as the heat on your cheeks began to fade away. But the embarrassment inside of you still stirred. For some reason, you didn’t believe him but you knew that was the anxiety in you trying to tell you otherwise. He’s the hero of Queens, why would he lie?

“Believe me of which statement?”

“All of them.”

“Alright, come on,” Peter said, walking out onto the fire escape. You tilted your head as you watched him leave your room. You followed him outside to be hit with the surprisingly brisk summer soon-to-be-evening air. But you didn’t have the time to say anything or even get a light jacket when Spider-Man pulled you into him, his arm draped around your torso tightly.

“Do you trust me?” He looked down at you and though you couldn’t look into his eyes to try to find his deal, you couldn’t help but slowly nod your head at him. Before you knew it, the New York air flew through your hair. Your hands clasped each other around Peter’s neck in fear of falling, but his arm grasping you was enough to keep you from imminent death.

Your heart beat loudly against your chest. And as cliche as it is, you could swear Spider-Man could hear it (and if you want to know, he was able to). Your hands grew sweaty as you swung through Queens and you buried your face into the crook of his neck until you felt the two of you land on steady ground.

A few seconds passed before you lifted your face away from his neck only to be met with the beautiful colors of the setting sun, once again. You didn’t even realize you were standing on the edge of a building until you felt an arm wrap around your shoulder.

“See, I told you that you could trust me,” Peter said. Your hand reached up to meet his gloved hand to squeeze reassuringly. “Do you believe me now?”

“Yeah,” you looked up at him with a closed smile. “Yeah. I do.”

“If that’s the case, my spidey senses are telling me you should tell this Peter-boy about your feelings.” He paused. “I-I have a good feeling about it.”

You quirked a brow, “Spidey senses?”

“Yeah, it’s-it’s like enhanced intuition?” He answered. Though it didn’t sound like an answer, you nodded your head.

“Maybe,” you replied. You looked back at the sky, the sun was already past setting and the first stars began to come out to say hello. You sighed, unsure about your feelings. After all, as much as Spider-Man would never steal, he was very well on his way to stealing your heart.


	3. p. iii

❝ _the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed  
__that one eyebrow that defied gravity  
it was like you were falling for him all over again_ ❞

* * *

“You can’t just take someone, swinging through the buildings of Queens, Peter!” Tony yelled, gesturing his entire arm out. Peter walked up towards his mentor in his outfit, his arms out as he tried to explain himself.

“Yeah but Mr. Sta-”

“A bup bup bup!” Tony raised a finger up in the air, effectively shutting Peter up who could only tighten his mouth in a straight line. “I’m talking here. Peter, I know you like this person a lot. (Y/n) right? What was it that you said to me about keeping your identity a secret?”

“To keep my loved ones safe.” They both said at the same time.

“Exactly,” Tony walked up towards Peter and wrapped an arm around the young teen. The two began to walk towards the car set outside the compound, ready to drive Peter home. “Someone could easily snap a picture and (Y/n) would be attached to your alter ego. I know you’re terrified to ask them out as - well - you,” Tony gestured towards Peter’s entire body.

“Wait, what do you mea-”

“But you’re going to have to. And not play around as Spider-Man to do so. Pepper is always in danger because of me. And trust me, I hate it. I’ve pushed her away in the past a few times and all of those who have been close to me because I’m scared of them getting hurt. You don’t need that on your conscience that young, if at all. I really - and I mean it - I really think you should stop talking to them. As Spider-Man, anyways.”

Peter pursed his lips as he took in everything Tony said. Nodding his head, he said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll stop talking to them. As Spider-Man.” The two of them finally reached the black car, Happy already in the drivers seat.

Tony reached over to open the door for Peter and then patted his back. “I knew you were a smart kid, Parker.” Peter smiled up at Tony as he got into the car.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Uh, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tony?” Tony quirked a brow and pointed at the boy seated in the car. “Oh, whatever, just get home safe or May will kill me.”

Tony patted the top of the car once the door shut and watched until the car left his line of vision.

* * *

Peter looked inside your room, watching as you worked on some stars while binging a show. He probably should knock, since this was kind of creepy, but you just looked so calm. No worries in the world. However, he raised his hand and rapped two knuckles on the window. You jolted a bit in your seat, looking at the window only to smile in relief when you recognized his mask.

You took off your earbuds and got up to open the window. You leaned out of it staring at the whites of his mask. 

“It’s late, what are you doing?” You asked, smiling and recalling the earlier events of the day. You couldn’t read the emotions etched on his face, but the way his body shifted side to side and how he moved his head to the side you could sense that something was up. You frowned. “Spider-Man?”

“Sooo, Mr. Stark caught me taking you through Queens.” He scratched the back of his neck, still not meeting your eyes. “He said I shouldn’t do that, or talk to you as Spider-Man. And I think so too. It can put you in serious danger if one of my enemies caught me with you and I don’t want to be the reason you get hurt. I’m really sorry and I hope you understand.” He began to walk away and raised his arm up to head back home but you reached out towards him, grasping onto his arm.

“Wait!” You urged. He glanced back at you. “Just, wait for a second.” You let go of his arm and ran into your room. Digging under your bed, you reached for a certain jar and ran back to the window. You held out the Spider-Man themed jar to him.

“It-It makes sense,” you said, “to stop talking to me. I get it. And as much as it sucks, I’m glad I got to know you. So at the very least, take this. You know, to remember me.” He gingerly took it out of your grasp and adired the spider design on the side.

He looked up into your eyes, “Thank you.”

You choked back a few tears before you said, “Good luck in life. And stay safe.”

Peter smiled. “I will. Thank you, (Y/n). For being a big part of my life. Make sure to tell Peter by the way.”

You nodded your head in response, not trusting your voice, before he jumped off the fire escape and into the night. You sighed, glancing up at the night sky. You weren’t met with the twinkling of stars, for they did not shine that night.

* * *

The dark circles under your eyes would not go away, no matter how much concealer you tried to put on. That much was evident to all your friends.

MJ frowned and furrowed her brows as she put an arm around you. “Dude, why do you look like you were up all night studying.”

Not wanting to tell the truth you replied, “Because I was?”

“Dude, (Y/n), you’re going to be fine,” Ned said, nudging you slightly with his elbow. You made sounds of protests in response but then quickly looked over at Peter. He was deathly quiet and usually would rush over to you the moment he knew you were killing yourself over school. But he looked just as tired, he was just lucky he didn’t have dark circles as evident as yours.

No one knew that you were close friends with the hero of Queens. Not even MJ but she knew something was up when you’d stop replying to her texts or wouldn’t hang out with her at night. So it’s not even like you could tell someone how you’ve been feeling since he cut you off.

It sucked. But you knew that it was because of how it could put you in danger. But there was still that voice in the back of your head wondering if he just cut you off because he was tired of you. Insecurities of yours wandered around in your head for the rest of the day.

You sat next to Peter with Ned, Cindy, and a few others, at the lab table in physics. Your head on the desk, looking at Peter’s well defined profile. You were thankful that Mrs. Warren didn’t assign any work after the AP exams; it meant you could sleep. But for some reason, even though you were extremely tired, you just watched Peter play card games with the rest of the group. The way his eyes crinkled when he laughed at something stupid. That one eyebrow that defied gravity. It was like you were falling for him all over again.

Maybe you should follow Spider-Man’s advice. Even if he never spoke to you again, you trusted him.

Your eyes began to close, listening to the voices of your friends and Peter’s laugh lulled you into dreamland.

* * *

The annoying sound of your alarm caused you to groan as you rolled over to slam the snooze button on your phone. You closed your eyes again as you drifted off into dreamland but the alarm that was set five minutes after went off causing you to groan again.

Your drowsy eyes slowly opened up as you rubbed your face with your hands. Tossing the blankets to the side, you groggily got up to get ready for school. You really regretted staying up to finish a season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine before the last day of school. Nah, it was so worth it.

It had been about a week and a few days since Spider-Man cut everything off with you. But with how it was the last day of school, you figured you should end it following his advice.

So there you were, standing in front of your jar-shelf trying to pick a confession jar. Which one would Peter like the most?

_“It’s Peter, he wouldn’t care which one. Just if he got one,”_ you thought. And you knew you were right but the other voice kept saying otherwise. It wasn’t until your dad yelled at you saying you were going to be late, again, that you grabbed a random one and ran off to catch the subway.

The last day of school went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, you didn’t see Peter all day or even after school. Block schedule for finals were the worst.

“So you’re finally doing it?” Michelle asked as she walked you to the station.

You nodded your head, “Yeah, I haven’t seen him all day and Ned hasn’t either. So I’ll probably stop by his place since it’s on the way to mine.”

“Alright, doesn’t sound to bad. Tell me how it goes, loser,” Michelle smirked and you rolled your eyes, punching her shoulder lightly as she walked off to her train to take.

“I’ll text you tonight, get home safe, ho bag!” You called out, ignoring the looks from the older adults around you. You smiled to yourself as you got onto the train and shifted around to look for a seat, only to realize you were going to have to stand this time around. Again. Which was fine.

You gripped one of the handles as you pulled out your phone to check your messages. Replying quickly to a few friends, you pulled up Peter’s chat and let him know that you were stopping by. You shoved your phone back into your pocket and took a deep breath for what was to come.

You knocked on Peter’s apartment with two fingers and went back to grasp the straps of your backpack to ease your nerves. You waited for a bit and then heard a ruckus on the other side, only to see May open up holding a rag. She paused and then burst into a smile as she realized it was you.

“(Y/n)! It’s so nice to see you,” she gushed, ushering you into the apartment. You smiled up at her, your eyes flickering over to Peter’s door as you talked.

“Yeah, it’s been a while Mrs. Parker!” You brushed a hand through your hair.

“Oh,” she waved the rag nonchalantly, “just call me May. You’re probably here for Peter, you can just walk in, he just got back from school.” You nodded your head and thanked her before heading over into his room, taking out the jar from your bag.

You knocked a few times before clasping your hand around the doorknob and let yourself in. You suddenly became more aware of the jar that sat in your hands when you made eye contact with Peter who looked up at you from his bed on his phone. He jolted out of his bed and fixed his hair from tossing around in his bed.

“(Y/n), I just got your message,” he breathed out. Smiling as he moved around his room trying to clean up his slight mess. As he shuffled things around on his desk you couldn’t help but notice an oddly familiar jar that sat perched on it. Your face scrunched up in confusion and you tilted your head as you tried to recall the star jar that sat on his desk.

Peter looked up at you, “So, what do you need to-”

“Holy shit.”

The jar in your hand would have shattered if it hit the floor. But Peter reached forward fast enough to catch it before it did.

Peter probably should have realized you’d figure it out, that he was Spider-Man. So when he glanced up at your frozen figure, worry flooded over him.

“Peter?” You asked sternly, your finger pointing at the jar you had given him, or Spider-Man, weeks earlier. He followed your eyes that were looking in the same direction as your finger then back up at you.

“Yeah?”

“Are you Spider-Man?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, okay. Well, that jar’s for you. You should open it.” You walked out of his room, closing his door for a second. Peter stood there watching you leave, his mouth agape. Glancing down at the jar, realizing that you had followed his advice, then up to see your back about to leave his apartment, he set down the jar on his desk and ran after you.

“(Y/n), wait!” Peter called for you, jumping over the couch and setting his hand on your shoulder. You stopped mid-step but didn’t turn around to face him. “I - uh - I don’t know what to say.”

You closed your eyes, unsure of how to feel. “I liked you.”

Peter tilted his head and pulled his hand away from your shoulder. “Liked?”

You chuckled and moved your head down a bit. “I liked you, you know. Spider-Man. _And_ you. God, I don’t even know what I’m feeling. Relieved? That I wasn’t confused on who I liked? Happy? Because it’s _you_. Or mad? Since you essentially used Spider-Man to get to me. Kind of broke my heart when Spider-Man stopped talking to me _and_ when you got too busy with the Stark Internship to even make time for me or Michelle or Ned!” You brought your arm up to your face, wiping away stray tears.

Peter stood there and pursed his lips. His eyes watering a little bit since he was frustrated at himself for doing this to you.

You opened your mouth, about to tell Peter you were going to leave when you heard him talk.

“I’m sorry.” He shifted his weight on his feet and you turned to face him. “I am _so, so_ , sorry about the distress I put you through.” He looked into your eyes, occasionally glancing elsewhere. “I shouldn’t have to use Spider-Man to get close to you like that. I should have made more time for you as me. I just-uh-I should have told you about Spider-Man. And I’ll make it up to you! Because talking to you again as Spider-Man made me so ecstatic. I thought-I thought you hated me. You never gave me a jar and-and I was always scared. Scared to talk to you as me. So-so-so I thought,” Peter waved his arms around, not really looking at you by the time he got here, “I thought Spider-Man would be easier to talk to you. And it was-”

You wrapped your arms around him into a hug. “You talk _wayyy_ too much Parker. I get it. It still doesn’t make it right though.” Peter smiled and you felt his arms wrap around you.

“I know. I’ll make it up to you.” Peter nuzzled his face into your hair.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay,” you slightly moved away from Peter looking up at him. “I trust you.” Peter grinned. “Now, you just gotta fill me in on everything.”

“I will.”


End file.
